11-1 Oregon Men's B-Ball Moves Up to No.9

[Desert Duck]

I appreciate that we are in the throes of winning a football National Championship, however, I'm hoping we can multitask just a little bit. 

 

Our Men's hoopsters are 11-1, ranked Top-10, have the best winning % in the Big Ten, and are just starting to gel and play as a team... in December! That usually doesn't start happening for our Altman teams until late February or March . 

 

So far, they've beaten 3 strong Top-20 teams, and the only loss has been to Top-20 UCLA. 

 

We've got two excellent Big Ten home games coming up, which fall perfectly between our upcoming January 1st Rose Bowl victory, and then our January 10th semi-final win.

 

01/02 - Illinois 9-2

01/05 - Maryland 10-2

 

Both of these teams are playing some excellent ball and these should both be great games. Illinois just lost to #1 Tennessee by 2.

 

Let's make Matthew Knight Arena an actual home court advantage. If you can make it to the game, I hope you'll show up and support them. Like football, great basketball is a beautiful thing to watch in person. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NCAA College Basketball Rankings: AP Top 25 Basketball Poll

APNEWS.COM

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The official page for the AP Top 25 men's college basketball poll. Keep up to date and view the latest NCAA men's basketball...

 

[Charles Fischer]

No doubt, this is the highest the Ducks have been ranked this early, in a very long time.  (If ever!)

 

Yet we have players who are not shooting well, and others still getting it together.

 

If it all happens--this is a very scary team that can make some noise!

 

Supreme Cook, (above) is just beginning to emerge...

 

[Sandy Rocks]

I am very impressed with this team. The last game the bench scored 43 points. I don't know the last duck team that has done that but this team does it consistently. They played really well on Saturday. Don MacLean, the announcer who has called many duck games in the past, had a really good point.

 

He said that individually the players have done well for other teams but they came to Oregon because they want to win as a team and it shows. They exhibit great ball movement, always looking for the best opportunity. They are going to be really fun to watch this year. If I lived in Eugene instead of the Portland area, I would have season tickets.

 

[30Duck]

This team is great, and yet it can still get a lot better! It's not shooting well, or rebounding, but it's been playing great defense, with the exception of allowing offensive rebounds. all season. 

 

The shooting will have to improve, a necessity I think, to beat Illinois and Mayland. MacLean had a particularly good observation on Shelstad during the Stanford game. Shelstad had a wide open 3 but took it to the rim instead. Ordinarily, that's fine. But Shelstad can't start passing up 3's. The defense will back off him. MacLean also mentioned earlier that 3's are shot best when the shooter just lets them go, when you hesitate or aim, you'll miss.

[Sandy Rocks]

I know that the team has been ranked late in the season but rarely this early and never this high. They are the real deal. Their defense is going to keep them in games. Even when they struggled offensively in the UCLA game, they stayed close because of their defense. It is exciting seeing new players emerge.
 

Cook and Evans have both started playing better. Evidently Altman believes that Moss is going to be a real factor or he wouldn't be starting him. These next few games are going to test their mettle for sure. We will have a better idea how well they can do. They will need to elevate their game and start making the threes. The offensive rebounds were better in the last game.